The focus of this song is the Durham mining community with my grandad and grandma as the main inspiration. The tune is borrowed from a version of "The Water is Wide". The image is by Bill Brandt.
He rose like stone / into the rain.
His breath a ghost / his boots a chain.
He broke his loaf without a word
And passed it on—no fuss, no lord.
She kept the fire / in ashes low,
A kettle ticking,/ and slow to glow.
She cleaned the wounds / no one could see,
Then left the room / more quietly.
The house is ash. / The pit is still.
But something walks / against the chill—
Not law, not pride, / not polished right,
But hand to hand / in gutter light.
So if you ask / what doesn’t die,
It’s not the crown / or flag or lie.
The world still turns / on what we give—
On how we help / the hurt to live.
